For the record: Read the transcript from 2004 opposition leaders’ presser on coalition

In September 2004, the leaders of the three opposition parties held a joint press conference to discuss the upcoming minority Parliament and the contents of a letter to then-governor-general Adrienne Clarkson asking her to consider alternatives to simply allowing prime minister Paul Martin to dissolve Parliament and force another election. While there was general agreement at the time that this was not intended to be a coalition, there was certainly no talk of a government formed from one of the parties with fewer seats than the Liberals being “illegitimate,” the term Prime Minister Stephen Harper has used.

For The Record, here is the transcript of the press conference, chaired by iPolitics.ca’s Elizabeth Thompson.